After getting Violet’s help to patch herself up with the poultice, Aura gave them a quick glance over. Outside of looking exhausted and somewhat dazed, there were no signs of injury. Thanking them for the help, the two return to the rest of the group. Ryse is standing over the disappearing Spider corpses, looking at them intently as if trying to figure something out. Maul looks to be finishing patching himself up, while Kaelen is crouched a little further away from the group. As she walks closer, he winces slightly.

  “Kaelen, did you take some hits and not treat them?”

  Crossing her arms and speaking with a concerned tone, Kaelen flinches slightly before sighing. Not rising from what he is doing, he looks over his shoulder towards her.

  “I took a couple, yeah, but there isn’t really time for me to get patched up. The Giant Spiders were in this area for a little while, and trying to pick out the tracks that should lead back to their nest is a pain. I figured this was a higher priority than getting healed up. Plus, it isn’t like I took that much damage or anything.”

  While Kaelen turns away from her to resume looking, he hisses of pain. Only a little damage being taken or not, he is clearly hurting from whatever was done. However, the fact that he is more concerned with finding the way forwards than treating himself worries her slightly. Thinking things over, she knows why. Taking a seat down behind him, she starts to speak.

  “When we were swimming away in the river, all I could think about were how I failed them. Jackie calling out for me to help her, and the look on Calen’s face when he tossed me to safety. I keep thinking that, if I hadn’t come up with the idea of these night hunts that they would have both been fine. Or maybe if we had waited until we were stronger, or any number of other things. And honestly, as messed up as it is, I am glad that Fortress choked me out like he did. He was a bastard for doing it, but I probably would have been up all night agonizing over everything otherwise.”

  Staring up at the moonlit night, Kaelen stiffen behind her. Just thinking about the matter has despair well up in Aura’s heart, as well as tears in her eyes, but this was something that needed to be said. Kaelen was probably blaming himself for what happened to Calen and Jackie, and she is making sure he knows he is not alone in that. There is a calm silence that follows, before he finally speaks.

  “I feel like I should have realized something was wrong from the start. When we got closer to where the Giant Spiders were, I noticed that their tracks were different. They weren’t a chaotic mess like normal but organized. And I noticed the extra spider shortly after the battle began. I keep thinking that if I had said something earlier, maybe we could have come up with a different plan. But instead, I stayed quiet, like always, and both of them paid the price for that.

  I don’t know what it was like for you girls, but Calen helped keep us guys all calm when we first woke up. He seemed to know just what to say, and his words were empowering. Both metaphorically and literally with his other Innate skill. Rally is what he called it, and it let him boost the stats and spirits of those he spoke to. If he hadn’t done that on the first day, I dread to think what kind of mind state I’d have been in. He convinced us all that we should at least try to fight if we felt the need. That somehow, someway, everything would be okay.”

  Kaelen stopped checking for tracks as he spoke and begun to sit back-to-back with her. Between the slight trembling of his body and the hitching to his voice, she doesn’t need to look to know he is crying a bit. She remains silent and offers her presence as some stability. There was nothing wrong with a man crying, and she had seen it before. Some of the senior firefighters did so when talking about how serious the job had been. Recounting the loss of lives because of their failures, it helped to drive in how serious the job was.

  It is only when he stops trembling that she turns slightly and places a hand on his shoulder. Giving it a squeeze, she smiles slightly when he turns to face her.

  “We both fucked up, but we will make it better. We will save both Calen and Jackie and make it up to them in the long run. But we can’t do that if we push ourselves to death either. So, maybe not right now, but when we next stop, I am going to patch you up. It is better if we are both at full strength just in case, right?”

  A slightly watery chuckle is Kaelen’s only response, and he wipes the tears that had been flowing from his eyes. Having managed to help lift a weight from his shoulders and her own, Aura stands to stretch before leaving him to get back to his work of tracking down the correct way to go from here.

  Heading back to the others, most of the Giant Spiders have disappeared at this point and Maul and Ryse are clashing somewhat with regards to how the loot will be distributed. Besides the crystals, there are another couple pieces of chitin and an intact fang. Not wanting the argument to go on for long, as it could easily erupt into a fight, she steps in and suggests that they just group all the loot together for now. And that after they have rescued Calen and Jackie, they can distribute things. After all, as much as she’d like for them to not encounter anything else, chances are this will not be the only fight of the night.

  In the end, it is agreed upon that Violet will be the one who carries everything. While Maul still dismisses her as weak, he at least acknowledges that she is trustworthy given the fact she had gotten them all the poultices discreetly. After that is decided upon, it is not too much longer before Kaelen finds the trail for them to follow and they begin to depart once more.

  While the night is still young, with the adrenaline of the recent fight fading, exhaustion begins to set in. It is only the determination and fact that they are constantly on the move that keeps anybody from falling asleep, but to conserve energy nobody is really talking either. The environment is much the same as well, being a somewhat hilly plain. Between that and the fact that she just needs to follow Kaelen, Aura allows her mind to drift.

  I guess I was so focused on figuring out how this was all going to go to think about it during the day. But, even though I hadn’t leveled up until just tonight, I was a little bit stronger in this recent fight.

  She knew where the strength was coming from as well, that being her new [Blunt Weapon Mastery] skill. Bringing it up with a couple of hand motions, she considers the implications of it all.

  So, I think I was doing twenty-eight points of damage with this club before the skill, and it only went up to twenty-nine afterwards. The skill itself mentions that it increases my weapons base damage, though I’ve not seen any indicator of that. That means it is probably a hidden value, or something that only people who make weapons can see. Either way though, I doubt that this simple club is doing ten damage as a base. I should probably assume that the bonus rounds a bit, which means that it could be as low as five or as high as fourteen. Though, I would probably hazard a guess towards the lower end.

  Coming to that conclusion was thankfully simple, and she had played enough games to understand that certain values could be hidden. Sure, it was mainly to do with curses, but she had not encountered any indication such things existed in this world. Though, she would not discount it in any way. Beyond that, the reason she felt a lower value was probably right due to how little damage she did during her duel against Maul.

  I could probably ask him how much more damage he is doing now. There is no doubt in my mind that he put his points into STR. Which means that physically he is stronger than me now. I don’t even need to hide that he is since I told him I put my points from hitting level two into DEX. But as much as I’m coming to trust him, I don’t want him knowing that he is growing stronger than me physically. The Matron said that she could see his desire for me in his eyes, whether by skill or something else, so I should treat him cautiously.

  Of course, I could figure it out myself and push the recent level into STR. Though, it would probably only be an immediate help. Given how VIT seems to determine how much damage you take, I can’t imagine how high I will need to be to damage Fortress. He had over one thousand health, and Calen had said that his Insight skill read him as level twenty. Given all of that, his VIT probably surpasses one hundred. And given his grip, STR is probably a secondary stat of his as well.

  Thinking about that interaction has Aura bringing a hand to her face. While what he had done left no physical mark, it certainly left a mental one. After all, despite choking her out he had not inflicted a single point of damage to her. And that more than anything spoke of how much control the man had. The memory of the squeezing sensation on her chest she had felt before passing out had been another way to show his dominance in that situation.

  So, if not STR then maybe I should put some points into my ATU? It would at the very least increase my mana regeneration, but it could be a way past Fortress’ high VIT. I mean, even before I got this weapon skill my simple spell was doing more damage than a strike was. And my magic just keeps growing stronger with use as well. I could ask Ryse about the matter, since I bet he put his points into it. But maybe I should round myself out a little bit more first.

  Closing her skills menu, she instead navigates to her Character Sheet. While she confirms that the poultice is working on getting her health up, her focus is on her level and the XP. Seeing it read as [40/200] and doing some quick and easy math she determined that the requirement was going up by fifty per level. And while that was great since it was just another three Giant Spiders per level, something about it was off.

  If it keeps going up at this rate it would be… just one thousand XP from level nineteen to twenty. Sure, that is fifty Giant Spiders, but I don’t doubt that Fortress could handle that by himself in a matter of days. So, there must be something else at play that I just don’t know. It could be that the XP per level gets higher at certain milestones. Or maybe it’s like some of those games where the higher level you are, weaker enemies don’t give as much if any XP? I’m betting it is the second one, since Maul mentioned that Fortress leads people to the monsters’ dens to wipe them out. He probably can only get XP from the strongest monsters, and that is why he is only so strong.

  Which brings it all back to what to put my most recent stats into? I could focus on one of my two offensive stats. STR would help with the immediate while ATU could help with the long run of dealing with Fortress. Of course, I could always bring my AGI up a little bit. Getting my DEX up to fifteen made me no longer feel clumsy, and I honestly feel a bit like my old self on Earth because of it.

  Glancing towards everyone, while their pace is slow, it matches her own. While going harder than a fast walk was probably not the best considering they may have more fights on their hands, it would be a death sentence for them if they had to flee again. After all, there was no river nearby to jump into this time. That bolstered Aura’s resolve as to where to put her points. That, and a slight realization that sent some chills down her spine.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  There has been no quest popup yet.

  Much like the previous night, despite having set out with clear intentions in mind no quest appeared. The quests were the part of this world she understood the least, mainly because based on Maul’s reactions it did not seem like the natives of this world had access to them. So, with no way to know how they were gained, much less how objectives and rewards were determined, the lack of one right now left her a bit uneasy.

  With that unease in mind, she swiftly puts her points into her AGI. There is no drastic difference from doing so, though her joints pop in unison after it happens. Her pace increases slightly as well, though nobody calls her out on the sudden change and they continue along the way to wherever the tracks, and thus Kaelen, are leading them.

  As they travel through the night, the landscape is gradually changing. The dry, overgrown grass of the plains is growing sparse. And the ground beneath their feet is growing more upturned and cracked. The best comparison being that it was starting to look like they were approaching a wasteland of some sort. And while that would be a change in scenery, it would not be a welcome one.

  The moon is still the only source of light when Kaelen comes to a stop. As everyone else follows, the sight ahead has Aura swallowing heavily. All the grass is gone now, the ground dry and cracked for as far as the eye can see ahead of them. Thanks to being on a bit of an elevated bit of land, she sees what she guesses is the familiar river in the distance is probably. Though, even around it the ground looks dry and dead. The bigger spectacle is an equal distance away but more centered.

  A gaping hole lay within the ground ahead, probably as large as the training field back in Fortress. It is not dark, as the light of the moon catches on the silvery white thread that seems to line the edges of it. These veins of what she guesses to be spider silk spread out from the hole like a creeping infection. Worse still, is the movement across the plain.

  Seemingly being either carried or dragged by unseen forces, are what look to be animals of various shapes and sizes. A wolf, still alive if its twitching movements are anything to go by, is slowly dragged towards the gaping hole. Despite the struggles, it doesn’t get free of whatever is carrying it and soon disappears over the edge of the opening in the earth.

  The scene is repeated among three different directions, all of them with the hole as the destination. The ones being brought in from closer to the river seem to be wrapped in that same silvery silk, which means that choosing this route was the right decision. Turning away from the disturbing sight, she turns to the others to gauge their reactions to it all.

  From Violet biting her lip with concern, Ryse muttering under his breath, and Maul’s grave expression everyone is unsettled by the sight. Unfortunately for them, the opening in the earth is probably their ultimate destination to rescue Calen and Jackie. Kaelen, is the only one looking at it all with a calculating gaze.

  “They aren’t approaching from the far side of the hole. Either there is nothing for them to hunt over there, or there is something too dangerous for them to hunt.”

  His words break the spell that had fallen over everybody else, and Aura squints to try and confirm what he is saying. It is difficult, even with the moon’s illumination, but she also spots a lack of spiders in that direction

  “Someone needs to go and check then to make sure that is the case. As much as I don’t want to be staying out here for longer than normal, we need to rest. There is a reason most of the hunts we Soldiers go on take place during the daytime, and that is to avoid getting the [Exhaustion] effect. It will mean that we won’t get back before Fortress becomes aware, but it will be safer that way.”

  Maul speaks up for the first time since the end of the fight, a tired look in his eyes. Now that they are not actively moving, even she can admit that the fatigue is starting to catch up with her. While she doesn’t say it, she had planned on insisting they all take a break before fully initiating the rescue. Her mana was not yet full, which meant that it was likely the others were not either. Considering how dangerous this could be, being at full strength was the best option. Plus, there was something else to consider as well.

  “That works, after all we probably shouldn’t go in until morning comes anyways. Think about it this way, there are clearly other groups of Giant Spiders out hunting right now. If we go in before they get back, they can attack us from behind at any time. But if we wait for them to have already set out then there should be less risk for us to head inside.”

  It was something that Aura only thought of as they saw the creatures being transported into the hole, but she felt it was a valid point. While such a thing did not happen in either nature or video games, these Giant Spiders had the potential to form strategies. At the very least that more powerful one could, and she did not like the idea of being pincered and ambushed.

  There is a round of muttered agreements on the sentiment, and soon it comes down to who should go investigate the area on the far side of the hole. While Kaelen offers to do so, what with his [Hunter’s Sense] meaning he’d be able to look for tracks, it is Violet who surprisingly offers to do so as well. Her argument is that her AGI and DEX are both high enough that she can get to and from there both quickly and silently. And while she looks the most exhausted out of everyone, there is a fire in her eyes as well.

  “I will be fine, I promise. And if push comes to shove… I can try to use that on any monsters I encounter.”

  While vague, everyone but Maul understands that she is talking about her [Charming Voice] skill. The prospect is at the very least an interesting one, and there is a vague bit of eagerness to Violet’s tone as they suggest it. There is also the fact that they can probably force the matter of going to check, but nobody argues with her on doing the matter. And while Kaelen looks concerned, both Ryse and Maul seem to be impressed at her stepping up like this.

  Swiftly and silently, she slips away from everyone. They watch her move across the open field. Her movements are quick, far more so than Aura has seen someone move before and is a good deal of situational awareness as well. From stopping short of encountering an animal being taken to the hole, to seemingly weaving around something that only she can see. In the end, it is almost like watching a silent dance as she eventually becomes too small to distinguish easily.

  After that, an anxious feeling falls on everyone as they await her return. Each deal with the anxiety in their own way. Whether it be Kaelen pacing back and forth, or Maul drumming his fingers on his club. Aura is simply standing there with her hands clutched and counting the seconds, meanwhile Ryse has taken a seat on the ground and almost looks to be meditating. After around twenty minutes, a small figure starts to make their way over. And soon enough, Violet is visible and the anxiety melts away. On getting back to them, she is panting heavily from further exhaustion. But she also has a relieved look on her face.

  “The animals being taken to the hole are being carried by spiders, small ones and dozens each it looks like. Terrifying as that is to think about, none of them were on the far side of the hole. The ground is a lot worse there, with there being some deep cracks in it. Deep enough that we will need to be careful on going over there. But that probably means that it should be safe for us to rest there. Right?”

  After saying that, like a puppet whose strings are cut she falls forwards from exhaustion. Luckily Aura catches her before she falls completely. The sound of soft snoring soon comes from Violet, and the fact she passed out in such a manner leaves Aura chuckling a little in amusement.

  “Well, you heard her. Let’s get going over there before we all pass out.”

  Hefting the light body over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry, it doesn’t take long before they are on the move once more. Getting closer to the hole, they are all able to see exactly what Violet had been talking about was moving the animals. Spiders the size of a person’s hand were working together to either carry or drag them across the ground and into the hole. The hole itself is a bit too far away to look inside, though they do pass over one of the veins of silk that spread out from it. Ryse crouches down to look it over, briefly touching it with what looks like a wooden ladle. He nods when it doesn’t get stuck but says nothing else as they keep going.

  On reaching the far end of the hole, the ground becomes far more treacherous. Moving slowly and carefully, the group continues for maybe five minutes before finally coming to a stop. The hole is still visible, less so due to the lack of elevation. Setting Violet down gently, Aura turns to everyone else.

  “Okay, listen up. While I know we’d all like to sleep, some of us need to stay awake. So, we should probably take turns sleeping. It is probably not to long until the sun starts to rise, but we should plan to go in there shortly after it does. I can stay awake for a while yet and already said that I’d be treating Kaelen’s injuries. We will stay up for a while and then wake up you two to keep watch until the sun starts to rise. Does that sound fine with you both?”

  Channeling as much authority as possible in her tired state, she lays out a proposed watch schedule. The only one who may protest, that being Maul, seems a little baffled at the prospect of sleeping in shifts. Not that she really blames him, since as much as she doesn’t like Fortress as a settlement, it is safe enough that doing this kind of thing is probably not needed. Luckily, he seems too exhausted to put up much of a fight and simply lays down on the ground to sleep. Ryse, meanwhile, gives a nod before taking a seat on the ground in a meditative position once more. Not sure if that is something cultural or otherwise, she doesn’t question it and instead turns to Kaelen.

  Getting him patched up is quick and easy enough and her tired mind admires his muscled body a bit. Tired and tense as she is, Aura is still a woman. And while most of the other Soldiers at Fortress at a similar build, they were also varying levels of assholes. Given that she was not the kind of girl who liked abusive guys, she did not look at them in that light. Kaelen was different, and while she had no intention of doing or saying anything, she could at least admire his body. Both the appearance and the feel of warmth that comes from her touching it to apply the poultice.

  After that, the two of them just silently enjoy the others’ company as they watch over their sleeping group and stay alert for anything approaching them. Nothing does, and after what is probably a couple of hours, they wake a groggy Maul and Ryse to take over watch. She giggles a little at the way Ryse jerks awake and stumbles back, due to him having fallen asleep in the seated position. Though her giggles fade to soft breathing shortly after she lays down on the hard ground and drifts to an exhausted sleep.

  “Aura, Aura wake up. You need to see this.”

  A frantic shaking and a soft, whispered voice are what stirs Aura from her sleep. While not all that restful, it at the very least was not filled with nightmares or the like. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, the sky has begun to shift to a more orangish color. Violet is crouched over her, her eyes wide as she looks off to the distance. Sitting up from where she laid down, she brushes some of her dirty loose hair from her eyes before she can see what Violet, and the others are staring too.

  Looking over by the hole, it becomes apparent that the Spiders are early risers. There is nothing going into the hole, but the swarm coming out is terrifying. The numbers are greater than she had ever seen in one place before, and to make matters worse they seemed to almost be organized to a degree. She counts them gathering into groups of ten, in four groups total. What makes the situation dire, is the fact that the Giant Spiders all seem to have silk wrapped around them. In addition to that, shortly after the last of the normal Giant Spiders emerge from the hole four more follow.

  She had not gotten a good look at the stronger spider when they encountered it that night, but in the slowly rising light of day it is clear that they are bigger than the normal ones. Between the large silvery thorax that two of them have, and the protruding fangs of the other there seem to be two variants of the stronger spiders. Shortly after emerging from the hole, each split off to one of the groups. Even from this distance the sound of hisses and chittering is briefly heard, before the spiders all turn in unison and begin to head off.

  Turning to face the others, worried expressions spread across their faces. Maul most of all looks concerned, and the reason is obvious. Fortress had warned them that they may have riled up the Spiders with their first night hunt. And now, it seemed that his words were coming true due to their taking out a second group of Spiders at night.

  I do feel bad for doing this, but it is a good thing as well. It means that we should be able to rescue Calen and Jackie all the more easily. I just hope there are no more of those strong Spiders in this nest.